Glowing Grandeur

When winter temperatures dip as they have in South Florida this year, it's the perfect time to cozy up to a fireplace. Unfortunately, few of us are lucky enough to have a hearth in our subtropical climate.

But on the island of Palm Beach, the fabled Mar-a-Lago has plenty of heat _ 13 fireplaces to enjoy on chilly evenings.

When Marjorie Merriweather Post completed this grand ocean-to-lake estate in 1928 after four years of construction, fireplaces were not unusual in South Florida homes. Of course, Mar-a-Lago is not your usual house and its fireplaces aren't the run-of-the-mill variety either. Consider a fireplace with walls that are gold-leafed to match the ceiling. Imagine a stone mantel bearing a chiseled coat of arms. And think of the charm of capturing the scene from Sleeping Beauty _ Prince Charming kissing Cinderella etched in brass above a stone mantel.

Construction on the mansion had been under way for about a year when Palm Beach went through its storms and scandals period, says Anthony Peter Senecal, Mar-a-Lago's historian-in-residence. Post's advisers wanted her to give up building such an extravagant residence, which would be her home for only six weeks a year _ from New Year's Day to Valentine's Day.

But Post refused to abandon the project.

``There are 300 families that depend on me to put food on their tables,'' Post told her financial advisers, according to Senecal. Artisans from West Palm Beach responded to such loyalty by producing exceptionally crafted fireplaces.

For pure magnitude, the fireplace in the main living room is unmatched. Architect Joseph Urban, who designed the estate's interior, wanted the massive two-story stone fireplace to be the focal point of this room. Large enough to stand in, the fireplace has side walls that are gold-leafed to match the towering ceiling. They were recently refurbished and look much as they always have.

But the 70-year-old tradition of burning wood will be broken as the fireplace is about to be converted from burning logs to gas. It's a sign of the times. The estate, which is still Donald Trump's private residence, is also a private club. And the Mar-a-Lago Club is host to so many events during the season that it's not practical to keep a wood fire going.

``Wood is too much trouble and too dirty,'' Senecal says.

But everything else about the fireplace remains unchanged. The original four-sided screen _ sturdy with its overlay of wrought iron filigree _ is intact. The Dorian stones used to build the mantel and chimney were imported from Genoa, Italy.

Set in the stone mantel above the fireplace is the Post family coat of arms. The original gold shield depicted the E.F. Hutton family emblem. When Post divorced him in the 1930s, she had the Hutton crest chiseled out and replaced with her own family's arms. Since then, the shield has remained unchanged, regardless of her four other marriages.

Nowhere is the local craftsmen's labor of love more obvious than in the fairy-tale nursery created for Post and Hutton's daughter, actress Dina Merrill. The beehive-style fireplace draws visitors into the room. Etched in brass above the stone mantel is the beloved scene from Sleeping Beauty: Prince Charming awakening the princess with a kiss.

Bunches of wild pink roses grow on tangled green vines that climb along the rooms walls and over the fireplace. Here and there yellow birds perch, ready to take flight at any moment. It's like being in a quiet English garden.

The entire design _ the flowers, everything _ was hand-carved out of built-up plaster on the walls, Senecal says. It's unknown how many artisans it took to create such an extraordinary three-dimensional work, but their legacy remains exactly as it was when they completed the job.

In the library, the walls and fireplace mantel are made of English oak imported from London specifically for this room. The wooden hearth adds to the library's studious, masculine air. It feels as if Alistair Cooke might appear any moment to introduce another installment of Masterpiece Theatre.

``I love them all, but, for some reason, the fireplace in the Spanish room is my number one,'' Trump says.

Made from 15th century ceramic tiles imported from Spain, the foyer's fireplace and the fireplace in the Spanish room (now a guest suite now used by Mar-a-Lago Club members) are similar. (Bedrooms were named for the decor; hence the name ``Spanish room.'')

Urban, who might be called the original recycler, included pieces of broken tile in the design, using the fragments with the whole tiles to create the colorful mosaics depicted in both fireplaces.

The foyer mantel has a built-in clock and the bedroom's mantelpiece is distinguished by nine niches that hold ceramic figurines dubbed ``the nine wives.'' How this nickname came about is lost to history. We can only speculate.